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Qu R, Han G, Tian Y, Zhao Y. Strontium isotope ratios in kidney stones reveal the environmental implications for humans in Beijing, China. ENVIRONMENTAL GEOCHEMISTRY AND HEALTH 2023:10.1007/s10653-023-01515-w. [PMID: 36849834 DOI: 10.1007/s10653-023-01515-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2022] [Accepted: 02/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Kidney stones are a common disease that threatens human health on a global scale and are closely related to the contemporary environment. The strontium isotope ratio (87Sr/86Sr) has been widely used to trace the migration of ancient humans through bones and teeth, which recorded their bioavailable Sr from the environment. However, no 87Sr/86Sr data for kidney stones have been reported. Therefore, this study explored the Sr content of kidney stones and reported their 87Sr/86Sr data for the first time to reflect the environmental implications for humans; 66 calcium oxalate kidney stones collected in Beijing were measured for calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and strontium (Sr) content to explore Sr distribution behavior in kidney stones, and 17 samples were tested for strontium isotopes. Ca and Mg had a joint effect on the Sr content of kidney stones, with magnesium having a stronger effect, whereas 87Sr/86Sr values were unaffected by these elements. The 87Sr/86Sr values of kidney stones ranged from 0.709662 to 0.710990, within the range of environmental soil and water in Beijing. Drinking water and surface soils (representing food sources) mainly contributed to the bioavailable Sr of kidney stones, while sea spray and dust storm did not. This study is the first to report 87Sr/86Sr values for kidney stones. Evidence of Sr isotope ratios in kidney stones reveals environmental implications for humans and bioavailable Sr sources, demonstrating a great potential of Sr isotope ratios at the intersection of life and environmental sciences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rui Qu
- Institute of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China
| | - Guilin Han
- Institute of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China.
| | - Yu Tian
- Department of Urology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, 100191, China
| | - Ye Zhao
- Nu Instruments, Wrexham Industrial Estate, 74 Clywedog Road South, Wresham, LL 13 9XS, UK
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Pospieszny Ł, Makarowicz P, Lewis J, Szczepanek A, Górski J, Włodarczak P, Romaniszyn J, Grygiel R, Belka Z. Assessing the mobility of Bronze Age societies in East-Central Europe. A strontium and oxygen isotope perspective on two archaeological sites. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0282472. [PMID: 36930597 PMCID: PMC10022790 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2022] [Accepted: 02/16/2023] [Indexed: 03/18/2023] Open
Abstract
European Bronze Age societies are generally characterised by increased mobility and the application of isotopic methods to archaeology has allowed the rate and range of human travels to be quantified. However, little is known about the mobility of the people inhabiting East-Central Europe in the late Early and Middle Bronze Age (1950-1250 BC) whose primary subsistence strategy was herding supported by crop cultivation. This paper presents the results of strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and oxygen (δ18O) isotope analyses in the enamel of people buried in collective graves at the cemeteries in Gustorzyn and Żerniki Górne. These sites are located in Kujawy and the Nida Basin, a lowland and an upland region with clearly different environmental conditions, respectively. Both sites are classified as belonging to the Trzciniec cultural circle and were used between 16th and 13th centuries BC. Among the 34 examined individuals only an adult female from Gustorzyn can be assessed as non-local based on both 87Sr/86Sr and δ18O signatures in her first molar. This may indicate the practice of exogamy in the studied population but more generally corresponds with the hypothesis of limited mobility within these societies, as has previously been inferred from archaeological evidence, anthropological analysis, and stable isotope-based diet reconstruction. New and existing data evaluated in this paper show that the 87Sr/86Sr variability in the natural environment of both regions is relatively high, allowing the tracking of short-range human mobility. A series of oxygen isotope analyses (conducted for all but one individuals studied with strontium isotopes) indicates that δ18O ratios measured in phosphate are in agreement with the predicted modern oxygen isotope precipitation values, and that this method is useful in detecting travels over larger distances. The challenges of using both 87Sr/86Sr and δ18O isotopic systems in provenance studies in the glacial landscapes of temperate Europe are also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Łukasz Pospieszny
- Institute of Archaeology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | | | - Jamie Lewis
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Anita Szczepanek
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Science, Kraków, Poland
- Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kraków, Poland
| | - Jacek Górski
- Department of History and Cultural Heritage, University of Pope Jan Paweł II, Kraków, Poland
- Archaeological Museum in Cracow, Kraków, Poland
| | - Piotr Włodarczak
- Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Science, Kraków, Poland
| | - Jan Romaniszyn
- Faculty of Archaeology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poznań, Poland
| | | | - Zdzislaw Belka
- Isotope Research Unit, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
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Cavazzuti C, Hajdu T, Lugli F, Sperduti A, Vicze M, Horváth A, Major I, Molnár M, Palcsu L, Kiss V. Human mobility in a Bronze Age Vatya 'urnfield' and the life history of a high-status woman. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0254360. [PMID: 34319991 PMCID: PMC8318297 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2020] [Accepted: 06/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
In this study, we present osteological and strontium isotope data of 29 individuals (26 cremations and 3 inhumations) from Szigetszentmiklós-Ürgehegy, one of the largest Middle Bronze Age cemeteries in Hungary. The site is located in the northern part of the Csepel Island (a few kilometres south of Budapest) and was in use between c. 2150 and 1500 BC, a period that saw the rise, the apogee, and, ultimately, the collapse of the Vatya culture in the plains of Central Hungary. The main aim of our study was to identify variation in mobility patterns among individuals of different sex/age/social status and among individuals treated with different burial rites using strontium isotope analysis. Changes in funerary rituals in Hungary have traditionally been associated with the crises of the tell cultures and the introgression of newcomers from the area of the Tumulus Culture in Central Europe around 1500 BC. Our results show only slight discrepancies between inhumations and cremations, as well as differences between adult males and females. The case of the richly furnished grave n. 241 is of particular interest. The urn contains the cremated bones of an adult woman and two 7 to 8-month-old foetuses, as well as remarkably prestigious goods. Using 87Sr/86Sr analysis of different dental and skeletal remains, which form in different life stages, we were able to reconstruct the potential movements of this high-status woman over almost her entire lifetime, from birth to her final days. Our study confirms the informative potential of strontium isotopes analyses performed on different cremated tissues. From a more general, historical perspective, our results reinforce the idea that exogamic practices were common in Bronze Age Central Europe and that kinship ties among high-rank individuals were probably functional in establishing or strengthening interconnections, alliances, and economic partnerships.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudio Cavazzuti
- Dipartimento di Storia Culture Civiltà, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italia
- Archaeology Department, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom
| | - Tamás Hajdu
- Department of Biological Anthropology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
- Department of Anthropology, Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Federico Lugli
- Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Ravenna, Italy
- Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
| | - Alessandra Sperduti
- Museo delle Civiltà, Sezione di Bioarcheologia, Rome, Italy
- University of Napoli “L’Orientale”, Naples, Italy
| | | | - Aniko Horváth
- ICER Centre, Institute for Nuclear Research, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - István Major
- ICER Centre, Institute for Nuclear Research, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Mihály Molnár
- ICER Centre, Institute for Nuclear Research, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - László Palcsu
- ICER Centre, Institute for Nuclear Research, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Viktória Kiss
- Institute of Archaeology, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence, Budapest, Hungary
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Zieliński M, Dopieralska J, Królikowska-Ciągło S, Walczak A, Belka Z. Mapping of spatial variations in Sr isotope signatures ( 87Sr/ 86Sr) in Poland - Implications of anthropogenic Sr contamination for archaeological provenance and migration research. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 775:145792. [PMID: 33631577 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145792] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2020] [Revised: 02/04/2021] [Accepted: 02/05/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
This study presents first isoscape maps of strontium isotope signatures and their spatial variation in Poland, based on ~900 samples of rocks, sediments, surface water, and flora. This dataset is supplemented by 87Sr/86Sr ratios predicted for several carbonate rock units. High, radiogenic Sr isotope ratios (>0.72), related to the Pleistocene glacial deposits, are omnipresent throughout the country and are also found in the Sudetes and the Holy Cross Mountains, where igneous and clastic Palaeozoic rocks are widely exposed. The lowest Sr signatures (<0.71) occur predominantly in the Silesian-Małopolska and Lublin uplands and are related to exposures of Palaeozoic, Mesozoic, and Neogene carbonate rocks. The large variation of 87Sr/86Sr ratios in the environment across the country is chiefly driven by the diversity in the geological substrate, and locally, it is also influenced by anthropogenic contamination. Strontium isoscapes for the geological substrate and surface waters differ from each other, in terms of the range of 87Sr/86Sr values and their distributional pattern. The differences result primarily from mixing processes in the geosphere (weathering), hydrosphere, and biosphere that control Sr inputs from various natural sources present in the environment. On the other side, they are also created by anthropogenic contamination of surface water and presumably of soils. This situation has important implications for future archaeological provenance and migration studies, as isoscapes for surface water and vegetation cannot be directly used to estimate the local 87Sr/86Sr baselines for past human populations. Therefore, caution is required when modern Sr data of surface water and plants are used in archaeological research. 87Sr/86Sr values of the geological substrate, which may be affected by anthropogenic contamination to a lesser extent than water, soil, and vegetation, are favoured for the baseline estimation for historical times.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mateusz Zieliński
- Isotope Research Unit, Adam Mickiewicz University, ul. B. Krygowskiego 10, 61-680 Poznań, Poland.
| | - Jolanta Dopieralska
- Poznan Science and Technology Park, Adam Mickiewicz University Foundation, ul. Rubież 46, 61-612 Poznań, Poland.
| | - Sylwia Królikowska-Ciągło
- Poznan Science and Technology Park, Adam Mickiewicz University Foundation, ul. Rubież 46, 61-612 Poznań, Poland.
| | - Aleksandra Walczak
- Isotope Research Unit, Adam Mickiewicz University, ul. B. Krygowskiego 10, 61-680 Poznań, Poland.
| | - Zdzislaw Belka
- Isotope Research Unit, Adam Mickiewicz University, ul. B. Krygowskiego 10, 61-680 Poznań, Poland.
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